MARA Holdings has completed its acquisition of a 64% stake in French data center operator Exaion. The deal deepens the Nasdaq-listed bitcoin miner’s push into European cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
MARA
MARA France agreed in August to purchase the majority stake from EDF Pulse Ventures, with Bloomberg previously reporting a $168 million cash offer. The transaction received final regulatory approval from the French government, which screened the investment for sovereignty concerns tied to foreign ownership. Exaion develops and operates data centers, cloud services, and high-performance computing infrastructure.
Can MARA’s Exaion Deal Anchor Its AI Pivot?
As part of the transaction, NJJ Capital formed a strategic partnership with MARA and will acquire a 10% stake in MARA France. EDF Group remains both a minority shareholder and a customer of Exaion. EDF supplies energy and services to roughly 41 million customers and generated €113.3 billion in consolidated sales in 2025, according to the companies’ release.
Governance will reflect the joint structure. Exaion’s board will include three representatives appointed by MARA, three by EDF Pulse Ventures, one by NJJ, along with Exaion’s chief executive and co-founder. Billionaire Xavier Niel and MARA CEO Fred Thiel will both take board seats, signaling direct oversight from major stakeholders.
MARA has been repositioning beyond pure-play bitcoin mining after its shares fell about 40% last year. The company reported a record $123 million profit last quarter, driven by pairing bitcoin operations with new power and AI assets. The Exaion acquisition extends that strategy into Europe, where demand for sovereign cloud and compute capacity has become a policy priority.
The immediate focus now shifts to MARA’s quarterly earnings release next week, where investors will assess how quickly the Exaion integration can translate into revenue growth and margin stability.
